Adjust depth of new nut – Sand down the bottom of the new nut until the upper lip of the Zero Glide nut is even with the fret board.

End 2 – Sand down to 45.90 (the width of the old nut).

Make a note of how far down you need to sand for each end.

Divide by 2 so you know how much to take off each end - 0.715 mm/end.

You can eyeball it, but it’s more fun to run up to Harbor Freight and get a $10 digital caliper. I recommend using a caliper of some sort to measure things. This step takes the longest and is the most critical in the success of this upgrade. You can get down several layers of skin before you know it!

Watch out for your finger tips when sanding.

If you are sensitive to dust, be sure to wear a mask.

Sanding the nut material will produce some dust.

Digital calipers – optional, but makes the sanding much less iffy.Basic hand tools – whatever you need to get the old nut off and cut the new fret wire.The Zero Glide nuts come in a range of sizes for acoustics and electrics so it was pretty simple to find the correct nut for my application. It gets good reviews, does not alter the guitar (other than swapping out the nut), is inexpensive ($20-30), is easy to install and doesn’t require bizarre tuning (e.g., Buzz Feiten). I decided that the Zero Glide zero fret system was the best way to go. The nut slot depth can have a great deal to do with intonation and playability, so I assume that there may be an issue in how the nut was cut for the SM-6.Īfter looking at several options, including: adjusting the slots on the existing nut installing a compensated nut, and installing a Zero Glide zero fret.

I have a nice acoustic Seagull SM-6 that I love playing but the intonation is slightly off between the open C and D chords.

Zero glide nut installation